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Today had all the earmarks for a weird trading day as banks, bonds, Canadians, and Japanese weren't a part of the market due to holidays. But stocks were open, and for once it's a great thing they were open. The DJIA put on a massive rally after overseas markets reacted favorably to US and globally coordinated bailouts.

Below are the unofficial closing bells prices:
DJIA 9,390.08 +938.89 +11.11%
S&P500 1,003.70 +104.48 +11.62%
NASDAQ 1,844.25 +194.74 +11.81%
10YR T-Note 3.8610% (Closed Today)

52-Week Lows
Top Analyst Upgrades

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) was up on talks that it is actually considering a mega-merger with Chrysler in a deal where Cerberus would keep some stake in the combined auto company and perhaps take over the rest of GMAC as part of the deal. Shares rose 33% to $6.52 on the day.

When you have a trading day like today and it comes after a week like this week, it is hard to determine if you are happier that the rally came on at the end of the day or if you are happier that the closing bell came to end the week. The markets closed down today but today felt like a win when you consider the 400 point move higher off of late day lows in the last hour. There are hopes of a coordinated G7 announcement this week along with some fresh hopes that the Treasury will make new banking injections and help in the LIBOR woes. The bond traders left at 2:00 PM early for Columbus Day, and the bond market is closed Monday.

Here are the unofficial closing bell levels, and remember that the exchange takes much longer to find actual close levels right now:
DJIA 8,477.40 -101.79 -1.19%
NASDAQ 1,649.51 +4.39 +0.27%
S&P500 901.24 -8.68 -0.95%
10YR T-NOTE 3.861% +0.027%
Top Analyst Upgrades

Barclays plc (NYSE: BCS) fell on reports that the financial bank giant is considering raising capital as part of the government's bailout package in the UK. Shares were down 9% at $14.66 in the final minutes before the close.

Someone help!!! The bear is eating the market and its participants. Today is just further evidence of a full blown bear market, and the recession isn't even yet officially underway. The short sale ban in financial stocks has ended, and that appears to have allowed some acceleration to the selling.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 8,598.14 (-659.96; -7.13%)
NASDAQ 1,645.12 (-95.21; -5.47%)
S&P500 911.41 (-73.53; -7.47%)
10YR T-Bond 3.8360% (+0.121%)

Here are five horrible retail sales figures showing no turnaround at these retailers.

Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) accelerated layoffs and forecast losses for the year today. Shares were down 19% at $8.05 right before the close to 18-year lows.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) missed earnings estimates and was put on S&P credit watch "negative" after the severity of the miss. Alcoa was down almost 14% at $12.67 immediately before the close.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) was available to be short-sold yet again, and S&P put it on negative credit outlook today. Shares went to lows not seen since 1950 from back when cars cost something like $3,000.00 brand new. GM probably made more per car then, too. GM was down 30% at $4.79 immediately before the close.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) fell yet again on fears that its Japanese financing isn't going to come through and as short sellers pounced on the stock. Shares were down 24% at $12.51 right before the close.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) fell 6% to $19.38 immediately before the close ahead of Friday morning's earnings report. It is impossible to expect anything great.

Today's market moves almost felt irrational and counter-intuitive. We had a global coordinated rate cut from the U.S., Canada, the U.K, The ECB, Switzerland, and China. Some might have thought this would create a 1,000 point rally, but many sellers are still winning out and the intra-day volatility was more than present.

The DJIA opened down around 200 points, rallied to being up roughly 200 points, went negative again to roughly the same levels, and then staged an afternoon rally. And then the selling came on again at the end of the day. Historically, this is what traders would look for as capitulation. Unfortunately, these are extremely unusual times and history books are of little use.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

• DJIA 9,245.76 -201.35 -2.13%
• S&P500 983.96 -12.27 -1.23%
• NASDAQ 1,740.33 -14.55 -0.83%
• 10YR T-Note 3.713% (+0.207%)
• 52-week lows (major list)

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) sold its 455 million shares secondary offering at $22.00, yet selling took shares down to under $20.00 early in the day. Shares were down almost 8% at $21.95 right before the close.

This market just won't quit and we even went through yesterday's lows on the DJIA to levels not seen since 2003. The world has determined that all of the efforts by the federal government aren't going to stop the bleeding enough or in time. The coordinated moves from the G8 nations aren't happening fast enough. This is called bear market selling. Cheap stocks get cheaper. Fundamentals don't matter. Technicals don't matter. Bernanke saying rates will be cut didn't matter. Sorry if it sounds depressing, but that is the climate.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 9,450.29 (-505.21; -5.07%)
NASDAQ 1,754.88 (-108.08; -5.80%)
S&P500 996.39 (-60.50; -5.72%)
10YR T-Note 3.506% (+0.08%)
52-Week Lows

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was down as it had trouble selling its $10 billion stock offering and as talk of counterparty demands over its Merrill Lynch ties have increased. Shares were down 23% at $24.77 in the final minutes before the close.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was the subject of rumors again today with today's rumors being that the Mitsubishi UFJ investment was not going to close. Both sides did refute this, but the damage was done. Shares were down 23% at $18.00 in the final minutes before the close.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) saw a massive hit on ongoing share sales and on fears that it cannot borrow for short-term operations. Shares were down 19% at $2.98 in the final minutes before the close.

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) was one of the few real winners today after it announced it was selling its fab-operations to Abu Dhabi in an effort to streamline operations and cut costs. Shares were up almost 11% at $4.68 in the final trading minutes.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is a reminder of how dangerous some high-flyers can be. It was downgraded by Goldman Sachs from "Buy" to "Sell" over lower average selling prices and over fears of a supply glut. Shares were down over 19% at $128.28 in the minutes before the close.

Today was almost a totally depressing day of a bear market, but by the end of the session, it turned out to be less terrible -- just another bad day rather than a total write-off.

Hopes and rumors of coordinated global rate cuts or some form of coordinated intervention helped stabilize the stock market somewhat by the end of the day. However, the initial shock of Dow below 10,000 rapidly became Dow at 9,500+ before the market recovered sharply from being down 800 points.

The bad thing about today's major selloff is that there was no sense of capitulation and no sense that panic had engulfed Wall Street. Instead, this is just orderly panic where looters and vandals cue up to take action.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 9,955.50 (-369.88; -3.58%)
NASDAQ 1,862.96 (-84.43; -4.34%)
S&P500 1,056.89 (-42.34; -3.85%)
10YR T-Note 3.426% (-0.218%)

National City (NYSE: NCC) was one of the most active of the worst performing banks. Shares were down 27% at $2.54 in the minutes right before the closed.

Today was a great day in anticipation of the bailout, up until the point that traders sold the news. There is still a fear of holding anything into the weekend where bad news comes in the form of takeunder mergers on Monday. Today's jobless rate was 6.1% and the non-farm payrolls posted 9 consecutive declines.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 10,325.70 (-157.15; -1.50%)
NASDAQ 1,947.39 (-29.33; -1.48%)
S&P500 1,099.24 (-15.04; -1.35%)
10YR T-Note 3.644% (-0.002%)
52-Week Lows
Top Analyst Downgrades

The big news of the day was rather complicated. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) has decided to step in and merge with Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) in an all stock transaction for the entire company. Wachovia closed up nearly 60% at $6.21 on over 250 million shares.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) bit the dirt today. It is the potential loser in the Wells Fargo-Wachovia deal and it paid the big price today. Citigroup fell more than 18% to $18.35 on the news and it traded nearly 300 million shares.

Want to see what Warren Buffett said on bailout and bank mergers?

General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP) got a a lift this morning on what many would otherwise consider bad news. The REIT has replaced its chief financial officer and suspended its dividend. Shares were up 27% at $9.70 right at the close today an more than 16 million shares.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) fell almost 5% to $4.14 after it announced plans to sell up to $500 million worth of stock to buy back debt from its credit arm to help shore up its bottom line.

This was another sell-off trading day. Any hopes for a late day rally were met with disappointment. The markets are digesting worse and worse economic news and earnings warnings, and all eyes are watching the House of Representatives tomorrow over the bailout vote. We used a prediction market, and today the bets are still that some bailout bill passes before October 31. The common theme among most stock groups today was easy: selling.

These are today's unofficial closing bell levels, and be advised that official closing bell prints have been coming later and later this week:
DJIA 10,474.41 -356.66 -3.29%
S&P500 1,113.80 -47.26 -4.07%
NASDAQ 1,976.72 -92.68 -4.48%
10YR T-Bond 3.646% (-0.122%)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was down today with shares down in the last hour after the massive offering. Its secondary raised $12 billion after pricing its secondary at $22.25. Shares were down almost 10% at $22.13 in today's final minutes.

Petro Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras, was pounded after Citi took it off the Latin American Focus List. Shares were down over 12% at $38.08 in today's final trading minutes.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) was down over 5.5% at $103.82 today in the final minutes of the day on concerns and continued rumors that the company was likely to miss its earnings expectations.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) was thrown out with the baby and bathwater today after the company's earnings were short of estimates and over comments about a slowdown in production. Shares were down almost 40% at $41.00 in the final minutes today.

Nabors Industrial (NYSE:NBR) proved that it isn't immune from the market even as an oil company. It also warned on earnings. Shares were down over 8% at $22.00 in today's final minutes of trading.

Today was another tiring day. Stocks gapped down lower and then managed to spend most of the day fighting in negative and positive territory. The ISM data on manufacturing this morning was atrocious and the worst since after the 2001 terror attacks. The Senate is expected to vote on a bailout plan tonight.

Below are today's closing bell levels:
DJIA 10,836.96 -13.70 -0.13%
NASDAQ 2,069.40 -22.48 -1.07%
S&P500 1,161.49 -4.87 -0.42%
10YR T-Bond 3.7680% -0.0590
52-week lows
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) had been down much worse today after an analyst downgrade raised further liquidity concerns. Then the announcement came that it was selling $12 billion stock to the public and $3 billion in preferred to Warren Buffett. Shares were down 3.4% at $42.15 in today's final minutes.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) rose on further hopes of a Senate bailout package and on higher FDIC deposit limits. It is also expected to price $10 Billion in stock tonight. Shares were up 11.5% at $22.86 in the final minutes of the day.

Volatility is becoming the market's new name. Much of yesterday's 700+ point drop in the DJIA was largely erased as the DJIA was up more than 400 points for most of the last hour today. The markets weren't driven by a bailout package. It was the BELIEF that a new passage would get passed by the weekend. Consumer confidence did come in stronger than expected, although the Conference Board noted that the data cut off date was September 23, before the last round of malaise hit.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 10,862.61 (+497.16; +4.80%)
NASDAQ 2,082.33 (+98.60; +4.97%)
S&P500 1,163.93 (+57.54; +5.20%)
10YR T-NOTE 3.827% (+0.195)
52-WEEK LOWS
TOP UPGRADES, many moved here.
TOP DOWNGRADES

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) rose after an analyst upgrade this morning. The young adult clothing company was raised to an "Outperform" at FBR. With shares on a year low and having sold off nearly 60% and a P/E ratio of well under 10.0, that brought some interest from Wall Street. Shares were up over 11% at $39.70 in today's final minutes.

Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN) was one monster mover today. A judge ruled that the private equity firms that walked away could not claim the material adverse change. Shares were up a whopping 70% at $12.59 in today's final minutes.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) rose on a call out of Piper Jaffray as one of several key technology upgrades. The firm raised its Neutral rating to a Buy rating with a $22.00 price target. Shares were up 6% at $18.36 in the final minutes of the trading day.

CMGI Inc. (NASDAQ: CMGI) is now ModusLink Global Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MLNK). Shares actually rose over 12% to $10.00 by the final minutes of the trading day.

Conexant Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CNXT) rose sharply after the communications chip company raised its guidance to EPS of $0.24 to $0.26 vs. $0.15 estimates. Imagine a chip company raising guidance in today's climate. Shares were up 42% at $4.10 in the final trading minutes today on more than 5-times volume.

Today is simple to call, yet painful. This was at one point the worst DJIA point-move down since the 1987 crash of 21 years ago. Congress failed to pass the $700 billion bailout package and ailing banks are continuing to be acquired in virtual "take-under" mergers where shareholders are getting hosed.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell prices:
DJIA 10,372.54 (-770.59; -6.92%)
S&P500 1,108.99 (-104.02; -8.58%)
NASDAQ 1,983.73 (-199.61; -9.14%)
10YR T-Bond 3.632% (-0.195%)

Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) will survive as an entity, but not as a bank as that is being taken out by an FDIC-backed buyout by Citigroup (NYSE: C). WB shares were down a sharp 82% at $1.76 right before the close with well over 300 million shares trading hands.

Today was all about financial bailout packages being on and off, and on and off, and on and off. Financial stocks were most of the news, but you've heard enough about that you will only hear about non-financial companies today. Q2 GDP was revised lower than original projections, but that number is older than dirt now. The funny thing today was that they started ringing the closing bell on NYSE a minute early on accident.

Below are the unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 11,160.49 +138.43 +1.26%
S&P500 1,214.56 +5.38 +0.44%
NASDAQ 2,185.56 -1.01 -0.05%
10YR T-Note 3.827% (-0.035%)
TOP ANALYST CALLS
52-Week Lows

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) posted really ugly numbers with its losses growing four-fold and sales down over 50%. Yet somehow, traders are hoping a bailout will drive the future. Shares were actually up 1.2% at $21.42 immediately before the close.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) was downgraded across the board after its earnings disappointment. Shares were down 26%, or $21.50, right before today's close.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) was crushed on R-I-M's disappointing numbers. Shares hit a new 52-week low and were down 10.4% at $9.64 in the final minutes of the day.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) was down over 7% in today's final minutes at $146.57. An analyst downgrade from RBC and a cautious sector call from Citi is to blame. The concern here is easy. Farmers are having their credit cut and they can't afford to pay endless increases in agriculture prices.

Today was another relief trading day on word that Congress has reached a tentative approval of a bipartisan $700 billion financial bailout package. It definitely wasn't from the slew of bad economic data this morning. That was just ugly. Despite poor economic data, bond yields rose as the bailout package will end the flight to quality we witnessed lately.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 11,022.06 +196.89 +1.82%
NASDAQ 2,186.57 +30.89 +1.43%
S&P500 1,209.18 +23.31 +1.97%
10YR T-Note 3.862% +0.091%
52-week lows
Top Analyst Calls

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) was up most of the day, but ex-Chairman Hank Greenberg filed to sell shares in the open market because of personal liquidity issues. Shares were up 19% but had fallen all the way down to almost 10% at $2.97 on this news. So much for him putting together a hostile rescue package of his own.

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) was up almost 3% at $12.96 right before the close after it received marketing approval from the FDA for its TAXUS Express2 Atom Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System this morning. This stock is so far down from prior highs that any good news is welcome.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) managed to gain 4% to $25.60 right before the close despite its earnings warning hitting the stock early today. This was already factored in and should have been anticipated. It is keeping its AAA debt rating, keeping its dividend, and suspending buybacks to preserve liquidity.

Northwest Airlines Corporation (NYSE: NWA) and soon to be parent Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) approved their merger today with something around 98% to 99% of the votes combined in favor of the deal. Unfortunately it had no bearing on the stocks, as Northwest shares were actually down 1% at the close.

Today would have likely felt like Day 3 of the market siege, but thankfully the master of the universe came to a key firm's rescue. The bad news is that the stock markets were mixed all day and the key index levels didn't gain at the end of the day. The good news is that there was no systematic free fall. Bernanke changed his tone marginally to convey a better bailout message, and Paulson was more on target today in conveying the need and lack of outright costs to the system. Things are so bad that the Presidential campaigns are being put on hold temporarily.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 10,825.17 -29 -0.275%
NASDAQ 2,155.68 +2.35 +0.11%
S&P500 1,185.89 -2.23 -0.19%
10YR T-Note 3.771% (-0.07%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
52-Week Low Club

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was the real stabilizer today despite what the overall index levels closed at. It raised $5 billion in a stock sale and received a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett. Shares were up almost 6% at $132.20 right before the close.

Today was nothing short of "Bailout Failure: Day 2 of the Siege" after Bernanke and Paulson both talked down the markets in the speech over the need for the bailout package on Capitol Hill. It is becoming the fear or the concern that many failures are just going to have to shake out of the system. The good news is that oil fell too after a record day into yesterday's futures expiration for the October contract. Bond yields also rose on fears that the Treasury is just going to print money for whatever bailout package it puts together.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 10,851.30 -164.39 (-1.49%)
NASDAQ 2,155.34 -23.64 (-1.08%)
S&P500 1,189.96 -17.13 (-1.42%)
10YR T-Note 3.841% (+0.015%)
52-Week Lows
Analyst Upgrades
Analyst Downgrades

Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) lowered its guidance for the quarter. The company now sees its earnings in a range of $1.24 to $1.26 EPS, while First Call has the consensus estimate of $1.40 and its previous guidance was $1.37 to $1.42. It gave its one-time reasons, but this sounds more symptomatic than anything.

Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) announced that CEO Philip Schoonover was forced to resign amid nearly two-year's worth of troubles and management missteps that drove this company into the ground. Shares were indicated up over 5% early today, but traders sold the news as they just expect the numbers to get worse. Shares were down over 5% at $1.61 immediately before the close.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was down over 4% at $19.20 in today's final miunutes. Part may be on bailout concerns, but Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer cut key bank estimates again along with other money center banks.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was down almost 4.5% at $25 in the final minutes today although not on news out of the company itself. It seems that Merrill Lynch has finally figured out there is more turmoil in the consumer and financial sector. The brokerage firm downgraded its Buy rating to a lower Neutral rating.

ImClone Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: IMCL) was one of the few real winners with shares up over 6% at $63.11 in today's final minutes. This is after the acquisition offer has now been raised to a formal tender of $62 per share.